The present invention broadly relates to collecting, assembling and inserting printed products and producing multipart printed products and pertains, more specifically, to a new and improved method of processing printed products, such as newspapers, magazines and the like. The present invention also relates to a new and improved apparatus for carrying out the inventive method.
Generally speaking, the method of the present invention is of the type according to which printed products are collected or assembled along a first processing path to produce an end product or an intermediate product and subsequently transported away.
A prior art apparatus for collecting folded printed sheets according to a method of the previously mentioned type is known, for example, from European Patent Application No. 0,095,603, published Dec. 7, 1983 and the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,930, granted Dec. 25, 1984 and assigned to the assignee of the instant application. This apparatus disclosed to the art comprises a collecting conveyor with a traction element having two parallel and endless revolving chains trained about two axes arranged at a spacing from each other in a horizontal plane. At these endless chains there are secured receiving saddles arranged behind one another in the manner of wrungs of a ladder. Along the upper run extending substantially in the horizontal direction, there are provided a number of infeed devices arranged in succession or tandem and serving to deposit folded printed sheets in a straddling fashion upon the receiving saddles or, as the case may be, the folded sheet or sheets already positioned on the latter. As viewed in the direction of revolving motion of the collecting conveyor, an outfeed or delivery device is arranged downstream of the infeed devices for the purpose of transporting away the collected folded printed sheets positioned one on top of the other. The processing path in this known collecting conveyor thus extends along the upper run of the driven revolving traction element. Each infeed device comprises an endless revolving drive element provided with individually controllable grippers attached thereto in tandem relationship and at a uniform spacing from one another, whereby each gripper fixedly retains a folded printed sheet. The respective transfer or delivery regions of the infeed devices extend in the same direction as the conveying direction of the upper run of the collecting conveyor. Each transfer or delivery region is operatively associated with an opening device, by means of which the folded printed sheets retained at their respective folds by the related grippers are opened prior to transfer to the collecting conveyor. The largest number of folded printed sheets that can be deposited upon the receiving saddles is given by the number of infeed devices arranged along the upper run. In other words, as many infeed devices can be operatively associated with the collecting conveyor as would correspond to the number of folded printed sheets to be collected.
An apparatus for and a method of collecting printed products as well as assembling and inserting printed products have been disclosed to the art, for instance, in European Patent Application No. 0,346,578, published Dec. 20, 1989 and the aforementioned copending U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,108, and in European Patent Application No. 0,354,343, published Feb. 14, 1990 and the aforementioned copending U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,348. The apparatus comprises an endless revolvingly driven traction or driving element, at which there are provided saddle-shaped supports extending at right angles relative to the direction of revolving motion, whereby two adjacent supports bound or delimit in each case a pocket-shaped receiving section. The revolvingly driven traction element is trained around two stationarily mounted deflection wheels with respective axes arranged at a distance from each other in a horizontal plane. In the region of the upper run which extends substantially in the horizontal direction, there are successively or tandemly arranged a number of infeed devices for the purpose of inserting or stuffing printed products supplied by the latter into the pocket-shaped receiving sections or for the purpose of depositing folded printed products in a straddling fashion upon the saddle-shaped supports. The infeed devices comprise respective revolvingly driven traction elements. At each of these traction elements there are arranged in tandem relationship individually controllable grippers, the conveying direction of which extends in each transfer or delivery region approximately in the same direction as the direction of revolving motion of the endless and revolvingly driven traction element of the apparatus. Each infeed device is operatively associated with an opening device, in order to open the folded printed products retained by the grippers in the region of their respective folds prior to being transferred and deposited upon their respective saddle-shaped supports. However, the opening devices remain inactive when the printed products supplied by the respective infeed devices are to be inserted or stuffed into respective receiving sections. As viewed in the direction of revolving motion of the conveying apparatus, an outfeed or delivery device is arranged downstream of the infeed devices, i.e. in the end region of the upper run of the conveying apparatus. Such outfeed device is provided with a revolving traction element comprising individually controllable grippers arranged behind one another, in order to transport away the printed products stuffed into the receiving sections and/or the printed products deposited or positioned on the saddle-shaped supports. These prior art collecting conveyors also comprise a linear processing path which extends along the upper run of the conveyor and within which printed products are collected, assembled or inserted into one another. The processing capacity is limited by the highest possible processing speed, and the number of different printed products is given by the number of infeed devices provided along the upper run.
A further apparatus for stuffing inserts into folded or bound multisheet printed products is known, for example, from German Patent Application No. 3,705,257, published Oct. 8, 1987 and the cognate U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,005, granted May 10, 1988 and assigned to the assignee of the instant application. The installation or apparatus disclosed therein comprises a traction element composed of two endless, mutually parallel and revolvingly driven drive elements in the form of chains, each of the latter being guided over a driven sprocket wheel and trained around a deflection wheel, the axes thereof being situated in a horizontal plane. Pockets closely arranged in tandem relationship and extending at right angles relative to the direction of revolving motion are secured to the aforesaid traction element. A carriage or sled located in each pocket is displaceably guided in the lengthwise direction of the pocket. In the region of the horizontally extending upper run and as viewed in the direction of revolving motion, several infeed devices are provided and an outfeeder or delivery device is arranged downstream of the infeed devices, i.e. at the end region of the upper run. At the start of the upper run, each carriage or sled is disposed in a first end position when the related pocket is located in the transfer or delivery region of the first infeed device. In other words, the carriage is located on the right side of the pocket as viewed in the direction of revolving motion and the first infeed device inserts a folded printed product into the pocket such that the folded printed product comes to rest with its leading downsided fold upon the carriage. In the region following the first infeed device, the carriage of the respective pocket is shifted towards the left, as viewed in the direction of revolving motion, into a second end position, whereby the folded printed product is positively opened in the course of displacement. Each of the following infeed devices now supplies a further printed product, i.e. an insert or supplement, into the opened first folded printed product. As soon as all inserts have been stuffed into the first folded printed product located in the respective pocket, the carriage or sled together with the completed end product is shifted back to the right and thus into the first end position, whereby the previously infed inserts are aligned with respect to the folded printed product during the second displacement. In this first end position the completed end product can be engaged by the outfeed device, lifted out of the respective pocket and transported away. The infeed devices provided between the first infeed device and the outfeed device are arranged in a lateral offset relationship with respect to the first infeed device and the outfeed device. This known apparatus for stuffing inserts or supplements into folded or bound multisheet printed products requires a great deal of space due to the necessary width and comprises a curvilinear processing path in the region of the upper run.